Charles-Barclay Maintains Lead at Hawi, Knibb Only Seconds Back

Charles-Barclay put time into the rest of the field in the first half of the bike. Photo: Eric Wynn

Lucy Charles-Barclay was the first woman out of the water in Kona on Saturday morning, and by the bike turnaround at Hawi, she had not only held onto the solo lead, but put time into the entire field other than Taylor Knibb. She hit Hawi in just under three hours and 20 minutes, only seconds ahead of the second-place Knibb. Knibb was the only athlete anywhere close to Charles-Barclay at that point in the race, with Norway’s Solveig Løvseth riding alone in third place more than seven minutes back.

Charles-Barclay covered the 2.4-mile swim course in 49:26, exiting the water a minute and a half quicker than anyone else in the pro race. A slower transition from the 2023 world champion let some of the chasers gain a little bit of time before hopping on their bikes, but Knibb was still 92 seconds back in seventh place.

It didn’t take long for Knibb to climb through the overall standings, however, and after just two miles of riding, she had passed everyone but Charles-Barclay to move into second. Over the next 11 miles, Knibb yo-yoed a bit behind Charles-Barclay, erasing a few seconds from the lead at one point, only to lose them by the next checkpoint.

Knibb erased a gap of more than two minutes in the first half of the bike in Kona. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Charles-Barclay put in a surge approaching the 20-mile mark, extending her lead to close to two minutes. At that point, Knibb was all alone in second, with Spain’s Marta Sanchez and Britain’s Holly Lawrence (a pair of of Kona rookies) in third and fourth more than three and a half minutes behind the lead.

Once again, the gap between first and second resumed its bouncing around, with Charles-Barclay losing eight or 10 seconds on one stretch and then gaining it back on the next length of road. Her lead reached its peak after 42 miles of riding when she was 2:21 in front of Knibb, but by the 50-mile mark, Knibb had clawed back to within two minutes of the Brit.

The next 10 miles saw tremendous progress from Knibb. Charles-Barclay hit the U-turn in Hawi after just about three hours, 20 minutes of racing, and as she spun back toward Kona, she saw Knibb was right there with her, just seconds back. After hitting the bike course aid station in Hawi, Knibb stopped and let Charles-Barclay ride away a bit so she could swap out her bottles, but she didn’t lose too much time before getting back to work.

Laura Philipp

With that, the race back toward Kona and T2 was on. It looked like Charles-Barclay and Knibb would hit the run course in first and second, but it was still a question of who would get out as the leader.

Further back, Løvseth was riding in third place, a little over seven minutes behind Charles-Barclay. Lawrence was in fourth, another minute and a half back of the Norwegian. Laura Philipp was was in sixth, nine and a half minutes back, and Kat Matthews was in 10th, 10 seconds behind her. Behind them, unfortunate news came from 2022 IRONMAN world Chelsea Sodaro, who was forced to pull out of the race after battling stomach issues throughout the first chunk of the ride.

Slowtwitch is on site and will be posting updates all day long, so be sure to follow along to stay in the know about all the action in Kona.

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